TWO‐DIMENSIONAL HARMONIC ANALYSIS AS A TOOL FOR MAGNETIC INTERPRETATION

Abstract

The total magnetic field values over an area can be represented exactly by a double Fourier series expansion. In this analysis, such an expansion is used to evaluate very accurately the fields continued downward and upward from the plane of observation and the vertical derivatives of the total field. This harmonic expansion of the anomalous total field makes it possible to calculate, with exceptional accuracy, the field reduced to the magnetic pole and its second derivative. The results of the calculations are free from the effect of the inclination of the earth’s main geomagnetic field and that of the polarization vector, at all magnetic latitudes and for all possible directions of polarization. In order to determine the influence of remanence on the above field, a number of anomalies caused by rectangular block‐type bodies with known polarization are reduced to the magnetic pole, correcting only for the obliquity of the earth’s normal field. It is concluded from a study of these anomalies that the interpretation of magnetic data based on the assumption of rock magnetization due solely to induction in the earth’s field may yield erroneous results, particularly when remanence is important.